Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith looks for a receiver Dec. 16 during the first half against the Chargers in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs have agreed to deal Smith to the Redskins.
Charlie Riedel — Associated Press

Trades cannot be made until the NFL year officially begins March 14, but that doesn’t mean teams can’t negotiate trade terms ahead of time.

The key to making the deal from Washington’s view is Smith, whose contract expires after 2018, has agreed to a four-year contract extension.

The Redskins used the franchise tag on Cousins in 2016 and 2017 and could do it again at a cost of $34.47 million in 2018, but Redskins coach Jay Gruden was tired of going year to year on contracts with Cousins. With Smith locked down for five years, the Redskins won’t re-sign Cousins.

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Free agency begins the same day the trading season starts. Cleveland should be an ideal landing spot for Cousins, who threw 27 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions in 2017 while leading the Redskins to a 7-9 record. He will be costly, but with $188 million in cap room, the Browns have money to spend.

Cousins, drafted by Washington in the fourth round of 2012, the same year the Redskins spent the second overall pick on quarterback Robert Griffin III — has 99 career touchdown passes and 55 interceptions.

Both Coach Hue Jackson and General Manager John Dorsey say they want to add a veteran quarterback to the team. Cousins fits the bill; the Browns played 2017 with three quarterbacks — DeShone Kizer, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan — who never won an NFL game. The Browns finished 0-16.

Though Cousins has 44 more touchdown passes than interceptions thrown, his record as a starter is only 26-30-1, so it isn’t like the Browns would be getting Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger if they do sign Cousins.

Still, 26 wins is more than any Browns quarterback since Bernie Kosar was 53-51-1 from 1985-93.

The 49ers were once considered a team that would pursue Cousins because of the tie between the quarterback and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, but the 49ers got their quarterback of the future when they traded a second-round pick to the Patriots for Jimmy Garoppolo.

Dorsey, as general manager of the Chiefs, traded with the 49ers to get Smith in 2013. He was expected to make a trade offer to the Chiefs to acquire Smith for the Browns, but had that deal been done, Smith, 33, might have been a one-year mentor for a rookie quarterback, possibly Josh Allen of Wyoming or Sam Darnold of USC. Pursuing Cousins would change that strategy.

If the Browns do sign Cousins — the March 14 opening of the free-agent market starts six weeks before the draft — the Browns wouldn’t have to spend the first or even the fourth pick on a rookie quarterback. Cousins will turn 30 during training camp (Aug. 19). The Browns would not sign him to a long-term contract to be a mentor to a high rookie draft pick.

Instead, the Browns could use the first pick on Penn State running back Saquon Barkley and use the fourth pick on cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick from Alabama and take a quarterback, possibly Mike White of Western Kentucky, in a later round.